Old Testament: 1Ki 3.23–27

To read the Bible in a year, read First Kings 3–5 on May 2, In the year of our Lord Christ 2020

By Don Ruhl

You have heard of the wisdom of Solomon. Watch carefully what he did in the first demonstration of his wisdom when two harlots came to him with a difficult situation. One of them had accidentally killed her son during the night, but traded her son for the son of the woman with whom she was sharing a room:

And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.” So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”

– 1 Kings 3.23–27

Solomon removed himself completely from the situation, knowing that the true mother would show herself. Someone might have argued that he was risking the life of the living child, but he knew that he was not because he knew the true mother would rather be separated from her son and let him live.

You have to find a way to show the truth, not caring for the outcome, knowing that the outcome will show the truth.

Questions:

• What test would we run today to find out the true mother?
• Is there still a place for wisdom and logic in our scientific world?

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